The Madhya Pradesh Excessive Court docket not too long ago commuted the demise sentence of a person convicted of raping and killing a 2.5-year-old within the Shahdol district of Madhya Pradesh. A bench of Justice Vivek Agarwal and Avanindra Kumar Singh reduced the demise sentence of the convict to life imprisonment for no less than 25 years with out remission.
The judges decreased the convict’s punishment, observing that human life is treasured and subsequently, the convict’s life shouldn’t be taken away so frivolously. “We’re additionally aware that human life is a treasured present of God; subsequently, within the details and circumstances of this case, and the legislation laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court docket, we discover that life shouldn’t be taken away frivolously from the appellant (convict),” the bench famous.
The choice was handed by the Excessive Court docket through the listening to of a felony reference for affirmation of the demise sentence granted to the convict Ram Narayan Dhimar, together with three linked appeals towards a judgment dated January 13, 2026. The judgment was handed by the Particular Choose, POCSO Act, Budhar, in Shahdol, convicting and granting a demise sentence to Ram Narayan alias Bhanu Dhimar below Sections 302, 201, and 506 Half-II of the IPC learn with Part 5(m)/6 of the POCSO Act.
The wrongdoer was convicted by the trial court docket for the rape and homicide of the sufferer, who was left in his custody by her mom. As per the prosecution’s case, the mom of the sufferer has been residing on the home of the convict, who was an in depth buddy of her jailed husband. On March 1, 2023, at evening, she left her daughter asleep on the convict’s home and went to gather coal at a colliery together with the convict’s spouse and two others. When the mom returned, she discovered her daughter mendacity in a pool of blood with harm marks on her face. The toddler was taken for medical therapy, however she died three days later, on March 6, 2023.
The postmortem of the sufferer, performed by Dr Amreen Khan and Dr Pawan A Wankhede at Medical Faculty, Shahdol, revealed vaginal and anal accidents and a cranium fracture.
Whereas deciding on the demise sentence of the convict, the Excessive Court docket in contrast the “aggravating” and “mitigating” circumstances of the case. Based on the Excessive Court docket, the irritating circumstances included the truth that the sufferer was two years and 5 months outdated and was left within the custody of the convict by her mom. The convict inflicted brutality upon the toddler, who was incapable of resistance or articulation.
The Excessive Court docket handled the dearth of earlier felony antecedents of the convict, his age (32 years) on the time of fee of the offence, his rural and economically weaker background, no irregular conduct throughout his custody, and the accountability of his spouse and two minor youngsters on him, because the mitigating circumstances within the case.
Within the Excessive Court docket’s opinion, the mitigating circumstances within the case outweighed the irritating circumstances. The court docket held that the case didn’t fall within the class of the ‘rarest of uncommon’ instances, overturning the trial court docket’s determination, and the convict posed no risk to society. “…then appellant can’t be handled as a menace to society requiring ‘rarest of uncommon’ punishment within the matter,” the Excessive Court docket held.
For commuting the sentence of the convict, the Excessive Court docket referred to a chart of comparable instances, the place the Supreme Court commuted the sentences of convicts.
That is the one time when Indian courts appear to have proven leniency in punishing the convicts in rape and homicide instances involving excessive brutality. Earlier this yr, in March, the Supreme Court docket stayed the demise penalty of a person accused of ripping aside the vagina of a 5-year-old woman with a culinary knife, raping after which killing her within the Shahjahanabad space of Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.
